Editing LotS/The Story/Tales of The Void 2/The Tyraness

The Tyraness' eyes widened. Then they narrowed into sharp, piercing slits.
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"Poet... You're a very, very stupid man."
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"No genius do I claim to be,<br>
I'm just a mere man and nothing more,<br>
But a trick that you must see,<br>
Will bring an end to this war."<br>
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Chen's hands moved in a dexterous blur. Then they parted, rose, and flashed.
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Two throats gurgled. Two weapons clanged on the floor. The Tyraness' head snapped round to the left and right, where her guards clutched at their blood-spurting necks. Blue energy throbbed between their fingers -- around the broken shackles' shards. Her amazonian warriors fell. The poet smiled.
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"Surrender, Tyraness; all else is doom,<br>
Or do you take this splendor for your tomb?"<br>
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"Why are you still rhyming?"
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"Force of habit. What's your answer?"
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"This."
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Her hand snatched at the folds of her gown. A pistol slipped from the sumptuous fabric.
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"This is my planet! Mine!" Her gun blazed. "I'm the Tyraness!"
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Chen was fast. All men with his training and augmentations were. Perhaps not as fast as a weapon's blast, but he didn't have to be. He only needed to be faster than the woman aiming it.
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Two magenta shots flashed past him. Then his hand struck the Tyraness' arm, and the pistol went spinning across the room.
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"The Tyraness!" she repeated.
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She clawed at his face. He crushed her throat with a single blow.
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"Tyran..." The word disintegrated into a splutter.
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Zhao Chen crouched down and lifted the gold ornament that served as the woman's communicator. He set it to the prearranged channel.
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"This is Culthana. Chen?"
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"It's done. Are your warriors ready?"
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"Yes. The Tyraness..."
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"Disposed of. I'll open the palace's defenses. I trust that when this world is yours you'll honor our agreement."
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"Of course. Tell Wu Tenchu the Sian Empire has a new ally."
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General Culthana severed the connection.
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Zhao Chen sat in the plush crimson chair and glanced down at the Tyraness' body. He pondered the shifting sands men and women called power.